If a motor vehicle, such as a car, is involved in an accident in which the front part of the vehicle hits a vulnerable road user, such as a pedestrian or a cyclist, it is not uncommon that the head of the vulnerable road user impacts on the bonnet of the vehicle. The vulnerable road user may in that case be severely injured. One parameter, which can affect the severity of the injury, is the fact that the bonnet, which is usually formed from a thin metal sheet, would tend to bend, and then deform on hard engine parts, such as an engine block, located in an engine compartment beneath the bonnet. In order to reduce the severity of these accidents, it is well-known to use a deployable bonnet. By raising at least the rear part of the deployable bonnet to a deployed position, also called a pop-up position, the distance between the bonnet and the hard engine parts is increased, and thereby the consequences of such an impact are mitigated.
The bonnet is in American English known as a hood, but herein the British English term bonnet is used.
Document DE 101 52 621 A1 discloses a bonnet arrangement including a bonnet with at least one rear hinge arrangement attached to the bonnet and to a body of the vehicle. In a collision with a vulnerable road user, the bonnet is raised at the rear end portion. The front region of the bonnet is thereby forcibly raised by means of a mechanical coupling. There-fore, in the deployed position, the bonnet is raised both at the front and rear end portions.
The hinge arrangement according to DE 101 52 621 A1 comprises a two-hinged configuration. When the bonnet is opened to permit access to the engine compartment for service, maintenance and/or repair, the bonnet is pivoted around two pivot axes, first around a first pivot axis providing pivoting in relation to a body of the vehicle and then at a second pivot axis providing pivoting in relation to the bonnet of the vehicle.
Further, according to DE 101 52 621 A1, the front end portion of the bonnet is moved to the deployed position before it is possible to open the bonnet in a normal way in order to permit access to the engine compartment for service, maintenance and repair. Therefore, according to DE 101 52 621 A1, there is no need for a latch and striker mechanism retaining the bonnet in the closed position.
In the bonnet arrangement according to DE 101 52 621 A1 the bonnet is displaced from the closed position to the open position via the deployed position. Likewise, the bonnet is displaced back from the open position via the deployed position to the closed position. It is thus not possible to displace the bonnet directly from the closed to the open position, making the normal opening of the bonnet somewhat cumbersome.
Patent document EP 2380787 A1 discloses a hinge arrangement for a bonnet of a vehicle. The hinge arrangement comprises a first hinge member, connectable to the bonnet, a second hinge member having a first end and a second end, and a third hinge member connectable to the body structure. The first end of the second hinge member is connected to the first hinge member, and the opposite end of the second hinge member, i.e., the second end, is pivotally connected to the third hinge member. Further, the first hinge member and the second hinge member are releasably engaged to each other by an engaging means. The engaging means is adapted to keep the first and second hinge member together when the bonnet is in the closed position or the open position, or when being displaced between these positions. When the bonnet is moved upwards in order to reach the deployed position, the engaging means is released and the first hinge member can move pivotally relative to the second hinge member at its first end, for example by means of a pivot pin. The engaging means may be a shear screw. Hence the first hinge member is pivoted in relation to the second hinge member to reach the deployed position.